


Sleepingbag

by Elenhin



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Camping, Gen, sleeping bag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2013-11-11
Packaged: 2018-01-01 04:37:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1040415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenhin/pseuds/Elenhin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another challange so kindly given by Aramirandme81, from the One Word at a Time series. The word being Sleepingbag, the line being; The first time Olaf took Anders and Mike camping they shared a sleeping bag, now he can’t even get them to share a tent.</p>
<p>I thought it fitting to put up this one, seince Aramirandme81 is currently posting an awsome camping series called And Then We Went Fishing. </p>
<p>This would be the first time that Olaf took both Mike and Anders camping at the same time, and I hope you enjoy it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleepingbag

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aramirandme81](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aramirandme81/gifts).



> To Aramirandme81 I hope this might give you a smile while working on And Then We Went fishing,,, and also, I'm kinda hoping to show my grattitude for this and all. Thank you.

Sleeping Bag

 

Olaf can’t help but smile as he approaches the house. Anders and Mike are waiting for him in the yard, with two larger bags and two smaller. It has been a tradition for a few years now for him to take Mike camping the first week of the school holiday, and he knows he has been looking forward to it. This year is different though as Anders will be along for the first time. At three years old, he is really a little too young for it, but Mike had been firm.

 

Their mother is pregnant, and it makes her act a bit odd at times, she’s thrilled to have another child, but she’s sometimes tired and tends to forget about Anders as Mike put it. With their father Johan, away at the moment Mike had refused to leave Anders home alone with their mum. Olaf had agreed to the wisdom in this, and declared he was sure they would manage. Anders was normally a quite cheerful and talkative little boy who is not very hard to handle. His major concern is that he knows he’s quite sickly which could be a problem when camping. He won’t enjoy himself very much if he catches a cold, but leaving him alone with a mother who might get caught up in making things ready for her unborn baby and forget to feed him supper, that is not a good idea either, so Anders will be along.

 

Mike is waiting patiently, wearing his denim jacket and a baseball cap while Anders has on a heavier coat and a warmer hat. Obviously Mike’s doing Olaf decides. The small blond is currently busy with a stick, though Olaf is not sure what he’s trying to do with it.

 

“That your things?” he asks, nodding to the bags.

 

“Yeah,” Mike confirms. “I packed it,” at eleven he’s quite responsible and used to looking after Anders so Olaf has no doubt he’s done a good job of it. “My stuff, and Anders’s stuff,” he points to the two larger bags. “Then Anders packed that,” he points to one of the smaller. “He doesn’t really understand what you need when you go camping, but I let him pack it, I figured it was no harm, and he was really happy to help.”

 

“I bet he was,” Olaf agred. At three years, Anders was always very happy to help, even if his help was not always very helpful. He was amused that Anders was so caught up in his stick he had not realized he was there yet. They both thought he was their cousin, and one who was not always around but one they both still liked.

 

“This is the important one,” Mike told him, indicating the second small bags. “The rest don’t matter a lot, but this is Anders’ medicine and stuff.

 

“He sick?” Olaf frowned. That wouldn’t be a very good start of the camping trip if he was sick already at the start.

 

“He just about always is,” Mike sighed. “He’s not really sick, but he’s well, he’s like he always is.”

 

“I see,” Olaf nodded.

 

“Olaf!” Anders suddenly came running over as fast as his short legs would allow, barreling into him.

 

“Hey there midget,” Olaf grinned as he scooped him up. “Ready to go camping with me and Mike?”

 

“Uhu,” Anders nodded, his blond locks dancing where they stuck out under the hat. “I got a sword so we can kill the zombies.”

 

Olaf blinked, wondering if he was still high. He had not thought he was, he tried not to be when he was responsible for his grandchildren.

 

“That’s great Anders,” Mike told him. “Now helps us carry this, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Anders squirmed so that Olaf put him down, and instantly dove for the largest bag. Struggling and failing to lift it.

 

“He’s quite eager, isn’t he?” Olaf mused, winking at Mike.

 

“Oh yeah,” he nodded. “I’m too, it’s not been fun at all,” he hefted the other bag onto his shoulder. “Mum’s gonna have a baby, and I get it’s weird, I mean, I don’t know exactly, but she’s different. And she’s always tired and stuff. She forgot to give Anders lunch last day I was in school. And today she got mad and yelled at him, and he hadn’t really done anything wrong. Not like that, he’s just a baby, he don’t understand why she’s tired and cranky and stuff.”

 

“No, it would be a bit hard for him,” Olaf mused. Anders was still struggling with the bag, so he lifted him and the bag both.

 

Mike nodded, it had not been fun. Anders had just been his usual self, he was only three years, and Mike didn’t know everything but he knew that Anders was not that different from other kids his age. Sure, he was smaller than most of the other three year olds he had seen, which was about four. He was sick a lot more too, very much more. One of the girls in school had a sister who was three and a half, and yet was bigger than Anders and almost never sick. One boy had a pair of twin brothers who were soon three, and they were almost bigger than Anders, and only sick sometimes.

 

Anders was too small, and too sickly, but the twins were always fighting and arguing and generally nasty, and he didn’t want a sister. Girls were silly, so he was quite happy to keep Anders in spite of that. It was just so hard with mum and dad. Neither one seemed to understand that Anders was still really just a baby he thought. Dad got mad if he sucked his thumb or cried, and mum got mad anytime he made a mess or wet himself, and he was just three years old. Mike wished they’d understand that. He had been playing with his breakfast instead of eating it, and mum had gotten mad and yelled at him so he started crying. Then she had smacked him on the hand for spilling his milk and Mike didn’t think that was fair.

 

He was really glad that they were going away camping for the week, maybe when they got back their mum would be in a better mood.

 

He fetched the last bag while Olaf helped Anders into the car. The old Ford did not have seat belts which made Mike frown a bit, but it was still better than staying home. He stuffed the bag into the boot, and then climbed in to sit beside his brother.

 

Anders was chatting happily as they drove, both real words as he asked endless questions but he also used a lot of made up words that made Olaf smile. “Talkative little bug,” he winked at Mike.

 

“Yeah, but he gets really shy at times,” Mike shrugged. He slipped an arm around his brother, and clamped his hand over his mouth. “Shut up, you’re supposed to nap now.”

 

Anders pouted and Olaf smiled, Mike had some interesting ideas, but he would make a much better parent that Johan had, that much was clear. Johan as a parent had been a sore disappointment to Olaf.

 

Mike removed his hand, and Anders curled up on the seat, pillowing his head on his thigh to nap.

 

They stopped for lunch at a McDonalds and Olaf could tell how right Mike was becuase Anders would not tell the lady behind the counter what he wanted. He buried his face against Olaf’s leg and refused to utter even a peep. Instead Mike took charge and ordered for both of them, then led Anders to the table while Olaf carried the tray.

 

It gave Olaf a new insight in some matters becuase Anders was much too short to reach the table, but refused one of the child seats provided. Olaf suggested it, and was met with a wail of protest from Anders and a tired look from Mike.

 

“They’re for babies, Anders is not a baby,” he told Olaf. So Olaf allowed Anders to sit in his lap instead. After all, what was a little ketchup stain on his shorts?

 

In the forest Mike helped him set the tent up, and to make the fire pit while Anders watched. Mike gave him the sleeping bags to put in the tent, and he had to struggle a little with the bulky items but managed. Then while Mike and Olaf cooked he dragged out his bag to continue to set up camp. Olaf had to grin over the things he had packed. The drawing pad and crayons made sense, but the electric alarm clock with the cord hanging from it was black and not showing any numbers. He pulled out a red View Master and looked around himself with it in front of his eyes, bringing up the pictures with a wide smile on his face.

 

“He thinks it’s a real camera,” Mike whispered loudly to Olaf. “He thinks he’s taking real pictures with it,” he smiled at his brother who was busy taking photos of the clearing, amazed over the Disney characters hidden behind the trees.

 

“I see,” Olaf mused. He was getting the hot dogs ready, wanting them to have a proper campfire meal, he had even brought marshmallows.

 

Anders wanted to cook his own hot dog, so Mike helped him to put it on a stick, but it did not work. He did fairly well until a slight breeze shifted the flames his way and he dropped the stick with a shriek, running to hide behind Mike who again smiled over his antics. Poking his head out from behind Mike Anders stuck out his tongue at the fire.

 

“Hungry,” he pleaded with Olaf who put his finished hotdog in a bun for him.

 

“He wants ketchup but no mustard,” Mike told him. “And juice.”

 

“Okay,” Olaf poured the juice in a mug and handed it to him together with the hot dog, Anders sitting down to eat. Ketchup soon smeared all over his face.

 

When they had finished Mike poured some more juice into the mug, then fetched the bag he had been so careful with. “He had another ear infection, so he has to take the penicillin,” Mike explained to Olaf. “And we got some vitamins for him, but the penicillin tastes awful, so you have to be tricky.”

 

“I see,” he mused. He watched as Mike brought the bottles of pills two different vitamins, but it made sense. Anders needed the boost, being small and sickly. One bottle had vitamins shaped like tiny oranges and Mike gave his brother two of those, then one plain brown one from another bottle. Anders swallowed those with the juice while Mike took two pills from the last bottle, and not letting Anders see forced his finger into a marshmallow, hiding the pills in it before he gave it to Anders. Olaf thought it was clever to hide it in the candy and gave him an appreciative smile.

 

“I hide it in stuff at home too,” Mike admits. “He never figures it out, but if you try and give them to him without hiding them he just screams. Mum gets mad then, cause he’s making a fuss, but I tasted one, just to see what they were like, and they really taste bad.”

 

“It’s very clever of you Mike,” Olaf praised him. “You take great care of Anders. He’s a really good kid, and you’re really good with him.”

 

“He’s not so bad,” Mike tried to appear nonchalant but smiled as he watched his brother. “I know kids who has worse brothers, I don’t know what the new one is gonna be like, but if he’s like Anders I guess it won’t be too bad.”

 

Olaf was willing to agree as he tucked them in for the night. He only had two sleeping bags so Mike and Anders was sharing, something neither appeared to mind. Mike lay on his back, his jacket and Anders’s coat folded for a pillow while Anders lay on his side, using Olaf’s jacket for pillow. He had curled himself against his brother, mouth slightly open. He had put the alarm clock beside them in the tent, and the View Master close by as well, declaring he was going to take more photos in the morning. Olaf had watched the ones he had taken already, and declared himself very pleased with them. He was very impressed by them, especially the one where Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse were chasing ghosts.

 

He had also seen Mike change the disc in it when Anders wasn’t looking, amazed that the older boy would do that for his brother.

 

Watching them curled up together in the sleeping bag, Mike throwing a protective arm around his brother, Olaf felt immensely proud of them.

 

It was strange though how so much could change and yet stay the same, and how much could stay the same while everything changed.

 

He had decided they needed some time together as a family, becuase really everyone had been getting on each others nerves lately. He’d found himself wanting to send them all to different corners when they started arguing. So he had told them they were all going camping, thinking it made sense. It would give them a chance to be a family again, not gods, not builders and fridge repair men or business men, just four brothers and a grandfather.

 

To start with it had worked pretty good, mobile phones were banned. Surprisingly no one had complained about that, and no one had complained about the tents either. Axl had given Anders a surprised look when it was clear the blonde wouldn’t complain about the sleeping in a tent, but Olaf wasn’t. Anders had loved camping when he was a child, even if he would almost always suffer a cold at the end of it.

 

He wasn’t as sickly anymore, but he he was still sick more often than the other three. Only now Mike didn’t pack a bag full of vitamins and medicine for him. They had all packed their own bags, and Olaf really missed the boy who had stood taking ‘photos’ with his View Master. Axl was still the same as he had been on his first camping trips, relaxing in a camping chair though he had a beer now instead of a soda. He had always been more lazy. Ty had enjoyed campfire cooking the most, and still did. He had various tricks to make the food taste better. He had not been satisfied with plain hot dogs, he brought along cooking supplies and took care to make a proper meal, even salad.

 

Mike was practical, getting the tent up, getting the supplies ready, and then settling back to enjoy the evening and relax with a beer. They had sat down close together, with Axl in the middle while Ty stirred something in a frying pan.

 

On the other side of the fire Anders sat, sneezing into his elbow. He had been sick before and probably should not be sleeping on the ground yet but had surprisingly not complained. Not that it would do him any good. Olaf had meant for this to be a chance for them to put aside their differences, but apparently it was not going to happen the first night. Perhaps it wouldn’t because the four brothers simply had trouble doing so, and while Mike might be willing to forgive Anders refused to ask for it. Instead he sat by himself on the other side of the fire and Olaf sighed.

 

He tossed Anders a blanket, thinking he would be easier to reach through to if he was not cold. Anders picked it up, and Axl giggled. “I knew it, you really can’t manage without civilization Anders.”

 

“Shut the fuck up!” the blond snapped.

 

“Hey, leave him alone,” Mike stepped in and Anders tossed the blanket back to Olaf who watched them sadly.

 

Mike looked up at the darkening sky, “Axl, you could get the sleeping bags out, you guys still haven’t, and it will be dark soon.”

 

“Sure,” standing he grabbed his and laid it out in one of the tents, putting Ty’s in the small one man tent they had brought for him becuase really it was too cold for any of them to share with Ty. He put Olaf’s sleeping bag with his own, and tossed Anders’ into the tent Mike had put up and put his in.

 

“Hey, I’m not sleeping in there,” Anders objected. “I’m bunking with Olaf.”

 

“No you’re not, I am,” Axl grinned.

 

“Fuck that, I am,” Anders glared at him.

 

“Oh for fucks sake Anders, what are you three?” Mike demanded and Olaf sighed again. No, he wasn’t three, when he was, things had been a lot better. Sometimes he thought maybe Mike was too tired to be that kind of brother anymore. The one who changed discs in the View Master on the quiet side and hidd ill tasting medicine in marshmellows.

 

Anders gave him an angry glare and went to rummage through his pack, finding the medicine he was still taking. Making a face as he swallowed a mouth full of the foul tasting liquid and Olaf for one felt inclined towards sympathy but Axl giggled again.

 

“I’d share with you bro, but it wouldn’t be a good idea,” Ty gave him a slightly sympathetic look and passed Anders a bottle of juice to wash the taste out of his mouth.

 

“Fuck no, you’d turn me into a popsicle,” Anders agreed, but he gave a nod of thanks as he took a swallow of the juice.

 

“Probably,” Ty gave a sheepish grin. “But at least Mike’s not taking up as much room as Axl does. Thinking of that, Olaf and Axl are the biggest, so maybe you should bunk with Olaf.”

 

“No, I am,” Axl grinned.

 

“Anders, just grow up,” Mike put in. “I’m getting fucking tired of your whining.”

 

“I’m not whining!” the blonde snapped.

 

“Mike, you’ve both been picking at each other,” Ty sighed. “Can’t you both just give it a rest while we’re out here? We’re supposed to be having fun.”

 

“And we could, if he didn’t have to be such a dick,” Mike defended himself.

 

“I’m not the dick here, look at yourself Mr high and mighty,” Anders snarled.

 

“Okay, that’s enough,” Olaf finally decided he had had enough. “Axl, this isn’t really your problem, so stop putting your nose in it and leave Anders alone. Anders, don’t be a dick, and Mike, you could really be a little nicer, you know he’s been sick so give it a rest. Now, if none of you can be mature about it, Ty, obviously you’re by yourself, Axl, you sleep with Mike and not another word about it. Anders, you’re with me, and I don’t want to hear anything from you either.” He leveled a stern gaze at them each in turn, Axl opening his mouth as if to complain but then closed it again. Mike shrugged his shoulders in a gesture that he did not care and Anders managed to look both relieved and unhappy at the same time.

 

Anders crawled down into his sleeping bag not long after that, while Axl stayed up demanding campfire stories.

 

Ty made a few preparations for breakfast and Mike indulged Axl while Olaf gazed up at the stars, thinking about how much he missed his kids.

 

They had been his kids, cheerful, happy and caring, but it was so different now. He couldn’t help but miss what he had once had.

 

The first time Olaf took Anders and Mike camping they shared a sleeping bag, now he can’t even get them to share a tent.

  
The End

 

Please comment, the Cricket is hungry, and also this time wants to recomend both One Word at a Time, and, And Then We Went Fishing. Both two amazing stories by Aramirandme81. 


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